A list of Irish surnames beginning with the letter C
Cahill
Variant:MacCathail
Found in:Clare, Galway, Tipperary
Origin: Gaelic
Cathal is one Irish equivalent of Charles.
Campion
Found in:Kilkenny, Laois
Origin: Norman-French
From “de Champagnes”
Carey
Variant:O’Kerry, Kerry, Carew
In Irish: Ó Ciardha
Found in:Kerry, Kildare
Origin: Gaelic
Carroll
Variant:Carville, MacCarvill
In Irish: Ó Cearbhaill
Origin: Gaelic
Cassidy
In Irish: Ó Caiside
Found in:Widespread, Fermanagh, Donegal
Origin: Gaelic
Clancy
Variant:Clanchy, Glanchy, MacClancy
In Irish: MacFhlannchaidh
Found in:Clare, Leitrim
Origin: Gaelic
Clarke
Variant:O’Clery, Macalary, MacClery
In Irish: Ó Cleireach
Found in:Ulster
Origin: Gaelic and English
Son of the Clerk. In some cases Clarke is an Anglicised version of Clery but some have ancestors from England, where the name has the same derivation.
Clery
Variant:Cleary, Clarke
In Irish: Ó Cleirigh
Found in:Connaught
Origin: Gaelic
Cléireach is the Irish for “clerk”.
Cody
In Irish: MacÓda
Found in:Kilkenny, Wexford
Origin: Norman-French
Coghlan
Variant:Coughlin, O’Coughlan, Coughlan, Cohalan, MacCoughlan. .
In Irish: Ó Cochlain
Found in:Cork, Offaly
Origin: Gaelic
Means “cape or hood” in Irish.
Collins
In Irish: Ó Cioleáin
Found in:Widespread, West Cork
Origin: Gaelic, English/Norman
Cioleáin means “young hound” or pup. Also an English name of Norman origin.
Conaghan
Variant:Cunningham
In Irish: Ó Connacháin
Found in:Ulster
Origin: Gaelic
Means “cape or hood” in Irish.
Connolly
Variant:Connely, Connolley
In Irish: Ó Conghaile
Found in:Widespread. Galway, Mayo, Cork, Monaghan
Origin: Gaelic
Means “valorous”. An very old Connaught family
Conroy
Variant:O’Mulconry, Mulconry, Conary, Conree, Conry
In Irish: Ó Conratha
Found in:Clare, Roscommon, Longford
Origin: Gaelic
Means “hound of prosperity”
Conway
Variant:O’Conway
In Irish: MacConnmhaigh
Found in:Clare, Kerry, County Dublin.
Origin: Gaelic
Means “hound of the plains”.
Cooney
Variant:Conan, Coonan, O’Cuana, Counihan
In Irish: Ó Cuanaic
Found in:Clare, Galway, West Cork
Origin: Gaelic
Means “handsome”.
Corcoran
Variant:O’Corcoran
In Irish: Ó Corcrain
Found in:Fermanagh, Kerry, Mayo, Offaly
Origin: Gaelic
Means “ruddy”.
Costello
Variant:Nangle, Costelloe
Found in:Widespread, Galway, Mayo, Sligo
Origin: Norman
From MacOisdealbh “son of Oistealb”, but originally from the Norman name “de Nangles”
Crowley
Variant:Crawley
In Irish: Ó Cruadhlaoich
Found in:Cork, Roscommon
Origin: Anglo-Norman
Means “strong hero”.
Cullen
Variant:Cullion, Culhoun, MacCullen, Cullinane
In Irish: Ó Cuillin
Found in:Kildare, Wexford
Origin: Gaelic
Means “holly tree”.
Cummins
Variant:Commons, Comyns, Hurley
In Irish: Ó Comáin
Found in:Kerry, Limerick, Mayo
Origin: Gaelic
Comáin means “hurley”. .
Curran
In Irish: Ó Corráin
Found in:Galway, Kerry, Waterford
Curtin
Variant:MacCuirtin, MacCruitin, MacCurtin, Curtayne
In Irish: Ó Cuirtin
Found in:Cork, Dublin, Limerick
Origin: Gaelic
Derived from Cruitín maning “hunchback”.
Cusack
In Irish: Ó Cíomhsóg, MacIosóg
Found in:Kildare, Meath, Mayo
Origin: Anglo-Norman
22 Comments
I am trying to trace my great great grandmother. Her name was Marie Claire married to Daniel O Mahony. I believe she was a Huguenot. I have her daughters baptismal cert with their names on it. Dated 1858 Durrus Co.Cork.
Hello Everyone,
I would like to find out more information about my surname and also make contact with other Curvin family members. I hope to make new friends and find out more information about my family name. Thank you for your time.
Thank You,
George Curvin
Any info on the last name collins? I know it’s Irish but didn’t know if there a viking link to the name. Thanks so much!
Hi I’m looking for some information into the Cronogue surname..I can go back as far as 1796 in the Flax growers census of Ireland and I found three Cronogue’s living in Drumsna Co.Leitrim.The oldest record of the surname I can find is found only in Co.Leitrim.The Cronogue clan might of been a family living under the rulers of Co.Leitrim (Breffni) called the O’Rourkes is one guess.Or another is that the name could derive from the Irish man made islands called Cránnogs and later anglicized to Cronogue over the centuries. Any more research or info of the origins of this surname would be greatly appreciated. kind regards Shane Cronogue
I think you might be missing Coyle from your list.
My grandmother Hellene left Ireland during the potato famine and we have
located what appears to be her marriage certificate with the surname listed as
Cullanne. Is may be mispelled or mispronounced. Any help would be appreciated.
I was wondering about the last name Courtney – my great-grandfather’s last name. I know he was born around 1891 and migrated from Ireland to Australia in his early 20’s. I can only find records of the emigration and nothing before that. I heard that some Irish last names were changed by the English? And that before Courtney, it would’ve been Cournan? I THINK just before moving to Australia, him and his family moved to England, which might explain the name change?
My mother’s “maiden” name was Courtney and I understand it is derived from the French/Norman name Courtenay. The early Normans who included the De Courtenay (originally Loiret, France), the FitzGeralds, etc. invaded Ireland are alleged to have “became more Irish than the Irish themselves” Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House of Courtenay see also http://www.geneajourney.com/crtney.html . I hope this will be of some help.
I know that the Costello name actually originated from Spain and that when the armada got destroyed quite a few sailors with the name costello settled in Ireland
What about the name Caufield, or Caulfield? My great-grandmother’s madein name was Sara/h Caufield and she had told my family that she was from Belfast.
I’m interested to know if it is even Irish!
Thank you
It is indeed an Irish name, and quite a widespread one if not exactly common. It is an English form of a very old Gaelic name (dating back well more than 1000 years) MacCathmhaoil which was translated into Caulfield at the time when the English in Ireland banned Irish names.
Caulfield is also an Engish name, and that can seem confusing – how can it be English and Irish? In fact that’s a fairly common occurrence. At the time when names were translated into English, they were often translated into multiple different English names, because direct translations did not really exist. Quite often a vaguely similar sounding English name was chosen, and that appears to be what happened with this name.
That said, given that she was from Belfast, it may be that she was not a Gaelic MacCathmhaoil, but was one of the Caulfield family who were given land in Northern Ireland by Queen Elizabeth during the early 1600’s, and later became the Earls of Charlemont. If you ever make it to Ireland you should visit Mayo, and especially Ceide Fields, which was excavated by Seamus Caulfield, who was a professor of Archeology at University College Dublin.
My fathers last name is callaway and my mothers maiden name is cunningham, I know my moms madien name is Irish but is the name callaway irish or english? can someone let me know…Thanks.
I’d be reasonably sure that Callaway is Scottish, but could not be certain.
It’s a common misconception that “Connolly” is translated as Ó Conghaile. This probably arises from the fact that Patrick Pearse helpfully provided James Connolly with an Irish name for to sign the Proclammation of Independence in 1916 (Séumus Ó Conghaile). Pearse summered in the Aran Islands, where ‘Conneely’ is often rendered Ó Conghaile (though, originally Mac Conghaile, see “A History of Iar-Chonnaught”, edited by Hardiman, page 27. This is an old family, probably Conmaicne Mara and was also “McNeela” in south Mayo and or “McConneely”, “McCunneela” etc.) Connolly Station is hence, Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile.
Connolly in east Galway (Síl nAmnchadha Uí Máine i.e. Madden), Meath (Sil Aedh Slaine sept, Uíbh Néill a’ deisceart) and Monaghan are in each case Ó Conghalagh.
In west Cork, Connolly is Ó Coingheallaigh.
In Fermanagh, south Mayo and perhaps Wicklow, Ó Conghaile. In Sligo, “Crilly” is often Ac’ Crollaigh or Mac Conghaile.
In south Galway, Connolly is sometimes Ó Conghaola, a toponymic c.f. Gowla., belonging to the Uíbh Fhiachrach Aidne, I think.
I’m interested in the English language form of the surname Cinnchnamhaitha. I’ve just seen it for the first time in my life. It was accompanied by a Scots-English first name, so it may be an introduced name.
We are trying to find out if anyone has information on my Great Grandmother’s name which was CROASH. She lived in Wexford, Wellington Bridge area around mid 1800’s. Has anyone every heard of this name and do they know what was the country of origin on this one.
Would appreciate some help!
Thanks very much
Hello Eileen,
I believe I may be able to provide some information on your Great Grandmother. If you would like to forward her Christian name to me at jcroash@hotmail.com I will pass on to you relevant research which I have completed on the Croash family tree.
Sincerely,
Jim Croash
Dublin 15
Hi Eileen just in reference to your query about the Croash name my Grandmother was a Croash from that area and I would have some info for you if ur still interested, contact me at molly798@gmail.com and if I can be of help to you I will
You should remember that the Scots originally came from Ireland and displaced the Picts. Thats why the names and language are similar. There were many to-ings and fro-ings between Larne and Stranraer long before the world Scotland was even thought of.
i would like a listing of the original surnames of all parts of Ireland and the most common used since the early 1900’s. My last name is Campbell. I’ve been told that I have English, Irish, and Black Dutch in my family history. in a brief study of the origin of the Campbell name, I found it to be of Scottish origin and not English. Can you give me some info if the name Campbell is a mixture of English, Irish and Scottish or of just one origin?
Any information you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time. Also can you tell me in what part of Ireland the name McFee originated in. Thank you so much for your time.
Sandra Campbell.
Campbell is definitely Scottish. There are Campbells in both Ireland and England, but they would be of Scottish descent.
McFee is a Scottish/Irish name, found pretty much exclusively in the North of Ireland, mainly around Co Down, sometimes as McAfee. It is from Mac Dhuibhshíthe which means “dark man of peace”, but that does not mean it’s an Irish name – Scots Gaelic is pretty like Irish and the name would be mainly of Scottish origin I’d be fairly sure.
Most names that are originally Scottish are more common in the North of Ireland, since a lot of Scottish people settled there over the centuries.
It sounds like you have a lot of Scottish in there! Bear in mind that quite a few people who were of Scottish origin but whose ancestors had settled in Ireland emigrated to the US, so it could be that the Irish connection in your family was actually Scots Irish.
That’s about all I can tell you – hope it helps.
McAfee is a Northern Irish spelling. The old name was McDuffee. McAfee and McDuffee are interchangeable. Most McAfees lived in the area of the Co. Antrim and Co. Derry border in Ulster – Northern Ireland. McDuffees came off the isle of Islay, Jura and Colonsay, Scotland. One of the seven clans of Siol Alpin.